On the June 30 edition of Raw, Chris Jericho returned to the WWE, but was attacked by the The Wyatt Family, thus setting up a match between the two at the event.[9] On July 8, WWE.com announced that Jericho would face Bray Wyatt at Battleground.

On the June 30 edition of Raw, AJ Lee returned to the WWE and defeated Paige for the Divas Championship.[9] On the July 11 edition of Smackdown, it was announced that AJ would defend the title against Paige at the event.[10]

Following Money in the Bank, WWE Tag Team ChampionsThe Usos continued their feud with Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. On the June 30 edition of Raw, The Wyatt Family defeated The Usos and Sheamus. On the July 7 edition of Raw, Harper and Rowan defeated The Usos. On the July 11 edition of SmackDown, it was announced that The Usos would defend the title against The Wyatt Family in a 2-out-of-3 falls match at the event.[10]

On the June 2 edition of Raw, Seth Rollins turned on The Shield by attacking both Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, siding with The Authority in the process. In the ensuing weeks, Rollins and Ambrose attacked each other, and each interfered in the others matches. The feud intensified when Kane assisted Rollins in winning the Money in the Bank ladder match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view on June 29. On July 12, WWE.com announced that Rollins and Ambrose would face each other at Battleground.[11]

On the June 30 edition of Raw, Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter confronted Rusev and Lana about their anti-American views. Swagger and Colter issued a challenge to Rusev, which was accepted on the July 14 edition of Raw.[12]

Also confirmed for the event was Cameron squaring off against Naomi, which took place on the pre-show. After they lost to AJ Lee and Paige on the July 7 edition of Raw, Cameron and Naomi attacked each other, effectively breaking up The Funkadactyls and setting up a match for the event.[13]

On July 20, WWE.com announced that Adam Rose would face Fandango on the pre-show.[8]

The Swagger-Rusev match, promoted as "United States vs. Russia," was marked in controversy after Lana – who is actually American-born – made comments prior to the match blaming the United States for "recent current" world events and praising Russian president Vladimir Putin to help build heat for Rusev. Some in the media viewed the promo as a veiled reference to the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 three days earlier.[23][24] In response to the backlash, a representative of WWE told TMZ.com and the wrestling website Prowrestling.net that the segment "was in no way referring to the Malaysia Airlines tragedy," adding that the Rusev-Lana storyline "has been a part of WWE programming for more than three months. WWE apologizes to anyone who misunderstood last night’s segment and was offended.”[25][26] In response to WWE's statement, Pro Wrestling Torch newsletter assistant editor James Caldwell viewed the comments as hollow, noting that reasonable viewers could conclude that Lana was referring to the plane crash. "WWE tacking on a fake apology with an insult to people's intelligence makes WWE sound even worse. All-around, it's a messy statement that conveys a lack of understanding, sensitivity, and maturity from WWE to be a decent corporate citizen," wrote Caldwell.[27] Swagger did not appear on Raw the next night, but he had a rematch with Rusev on Main Event, which Swagger won by disqualification.